Pashtun nationalism and feminism

The strain of Pashtun nationalism which presents the struggle of women and feminist causes as ‘distraction’, ‘market capitalism ploys’, ‘attacks on cultural values’ is as despicable as any other misogynist rants. The struggle of women for equality, dignity and due rights in Pashtun culture is real. I have said this many times that Pashtun culture and its over-zealous patriarchal values are perhaps the most oppressive to women, anywhere in the region. Saying this is not reducing the nationalist struggle to the second fiddle. It is initiating a much needed internal debate. Few of those claiming to represent the Pashtun struggle have gone full-throttled today on International Women’s day because they consider any feminist cause or symbol to be direct attack on Pashtun culture and hence Pashtun political struggle.

According to this male chauvinist perspective any mention of the place of women in Pashtun culture is in itself attack on Pashtun culture and values. They present Pashtuns to be noble savages and ascribe all of the oppressive practices to women as result of ‘imperialism’, ‘colonialism’ and denial by the Pakistani state of due development to the Pashtun regions. Their solution is formulaic: remove the political oppression and Pashtun culture will all of a sudden become a heaven for women. Or worse their solution is to hush over all this issue because there exists no such issue and it is just a ploy by the Pakistani state and ‘liberals’ to discredit Pashtun struggle.

This is not only wrong but is also a misreading of the political struggle of Pashtuns for due political rights. There is erasure of women from public spaces. The misogyny is manifested both through infantilizing women “Khazu ka poze na way nu ghwal ba ye khurak wu” (a popular proverb: if women didn’t have noses they would have eaten feces) and through objectifying them by making them objects of honor and forcing them behind closed doors. While these problems can be in agreement to the wider geographical and cultural practices, in Pashtun culture they are unique which any visit to a Pashtun region will make you aware of. It is time to admit the male chauvinism contained in Pashtun culture and make emancipation of women from the oppressive clutches of ‘riwaj’ as political a struggle. Of-course it is a battle which will be fought and lead by women and if you have a problem with that, know that you are an oppressor.